Airbus confirms program termination for A380, A330 and A350 for Emirates

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Toulouse - Today Airbus confirmed program termination for its A380 due to lack of the substantial backlog. Airbus also announced that Emirates would reduce its A380 order book from 162 to 123 aircraft.

On February 12, we reported here Airbus was preparing to terminate the A380 program. Today, during the presentation of annual results, the manufacturer announced that it decided to cease the production of A380 due to lack of demand. The last aircraft will be delivered to Emirates in 2021.

As a result of this decision we have no substantial A380 backlog and hence no basis to sustain production, despite all our sales efforts with other airlines in recent years. This leads to the end of A380 deliveries in 2021,

said Airbus Chief Executive Officer Tom Enders.

The A380 is not only an outstanding engineering and industrial achievement. Passengers all over the world love to fly on this great aircraft. Hence today’s announcement is painful for us and the A380 communities worldwide. But, keep in mind that A380s will still roam the skies for many years to come and Airbus will of course continue to fully support the A380 operators,

Enders added.

Airbus was suffering from lack of demand to its superjumbo for very long. The manufacturer was relying on the orders from its biggest customer Emirates Airlines to continue to the production.

But Gulf-based carrier decided to cancel its recent order for 39 copies due to disagreements with the British engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce. Emirates complained Rolls-Royce was not doing much to improve the low-performing Trent 900 engines.

Emirates now decided to continue to grow its fleet with Airbus’ newest generation widebodies. The airline converted its previous order for 39 A380 to 40 A330-900 and 30 A350-900 aircraft.

On the other hand, the manufacturer declared a strong annual revenue of €64 billion for the 2018 fiscal year.